As a tradition, our Sister Club Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast held their 28th Anniversary Celebration on April 1. Eight representatives from our Club attended, including members, spouses and family members. On the second day, we joined a day tour to Yilan (宜蘭), where we enjoyed local food, fruit picking, boat ride and local food again. Just like past years we were flooded with the hospitality, passion and souvenirs from our beloved Sisters!
We had two wonderful days of fellowship and bonding with our Sister Club – Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast! A total of 14 Club members including spouses and family attended the 27th anniversary dinner of our sister club. Our sister club arranged a one day tour to Pingxi where President Elect Jason took his wedding photos 10 years ago! It was also the first time for many of the Club members to release of sky lanterns at Pingxi. They then went to Jiufen for hunting of hand letters!
We had a relaxing and happy fellowship among Club members and sister club members from our three sister clubs: Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen, Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast and Rotary Club of Pudu. We toured around Tai O, Ngong Ping, Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. Weather was fantastic!
A relaxing and fun-filled 36th Club Anniversary party was successfully held at Regala Skycity Hotel on March 25, 2023. The party was attended by over 65 Club membersand guests. District Governor Norman Lee, District Governor Elect Andy Li, District Governor Nominee Nigel Lo, District Officers, and 20 members from our three sister clubs — Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen, Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast and Rotary Club of Pudu. The highlights of event were the sister-club signing ceremony with all three sister clubs to continue our partnership to do GOOD for the community; new memberinduction for Rotarian Ka Man Wong; the pinning of new Paul Harris Fellows and multi-Paul Harris Fellows for President Eliza Ning, Past President Grace Yen, Past President Eddie Leung, Past President Webster Ng and Rotary Ann Coco. What’s more? A party of 35 Rotarians and family members joined the Lantau tour on nextday which further fostered bonding among all. Last but not least, we thank our President Elect Jason Ling for his great leadership of the dinner, and we are looking forward to our next anniversary celebration with many more Club members and friends!!
Club Installation was held at Regal Hong Kong Hotel on July 14. It was a hybrid affair, with Rotarians attending both a physical lunch and a virtual broadcast via Zoom. During the installation, the presidential sash was passed from Immediate Past President Sam to President Eliza, with Immediate Past District Governor Keith and District Governor Norman presiding over the ceremony. Many Rotarians, families and friends also attended the virtual broadcast, including Past District Governor Peter Pang, District Governor Elect Andy Li, District Governor Nominee Nigel Lo, Assistant Governor Brian Ho, representatives from our service partners, representatives from our Interact and Rotaract Clubs, invited guests and friends of our Club, and our esteemed sister club friends from Rotary Club of Pudu, Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast and Rotary Club of Taipei Mingmen. Congratulations to President Eliza, and enjoy a splendid year as Immediate Past President, Sam!
This meeting we welcomed our own Rotarian Tony as speaker. Immediate Past President Mark made the speaker introduction, noting that Rotarian Tony’s hobby, in fact, is doing community service. As the Head of Mainland Strategic Development of Hong Kong Jockey Club, Rotarian Tony’s topic was “Social Betterment Projects in Mainland.” For most of us, when we think about Hong Kong Jockey Club, we think about horse racing, Mark Six and sports betting. Rotarian Tony’s presentation gave us an overview of the community service portfolio of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Established in 1993, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, reflects the evolving nature, scale and scope of donations. The Charities Trust is one of the world’s top ten charity donors. Approximately 90% of the Jockey Club’s annual operating surplus after tax is donated to the Trust, enabling it to play a significant role in the community’s development. Locally, in Hong Kong, we are familiar with Tai Kwun, a heritage site developed and preserved by HKJC. Ocean Park, at its inception, was also a HKJC project, providing locals and visitors alike with a world class recreational facility. There are many more community projects. HKJC has 10 areas of community contributions,…
On July 1, District Governor Water of Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast, our sister club, held a ceremony celebrating her assumption of Governorship of Rotary District 3502. Many members of our Club attended via Zoom, including Past District Governor Belinda, who was Club President classmate with Water in 2010-11. Past Rotary International President Gary Huang also attended, and personally extended greetings to several members of our Club, including our Charter President Patrick, who was President when Gary was District Governor of our predecessor District 345, and Belinda, who was our District’s Governor when he was Rotary International President.
On April 22, our Club met at Regal Hong Kong Hotel. To ensure proper social distancing, Regal has given us a large room, with 4-person tables separated by ample spaces. Past President Dora, first to report, gave details regarding our virtual meeting with our sisters at Rotary Club of Taoyuan Southeast: it would be a Zoom affair, with the two Clubs’ respective Presidents Elect introducing their incoming Board members and their current Presidents giving a quick update of services in the current Rotary year. Past President Dora said that a Zoom link shall be provided to all in due course. Rotarian Eliza and Past President Angela detailed arrangements of our tree planting outing on May 1, with District Preserve Planet Earth (“PPE”) Committee. Rotarian Eliza also promoted beach cleaning, to be held on May 9. Finally, President Elect Sam highlighted the arrangements of the upcoming District Training Assembly, to be held on May 8. It would be a hybrid occasion with both physical and online options for those interested. Rotarian Eliza was our meeting’s speaker, who shared with us the current government consultation on the Producer Responsibility Scheme on Plastic Beverage Containers. The consultation, launched on February 22 and will…
On December 19, our Club hosted a trifecta of meetings: Board Meeting, Club Assembly, and Annual General Meeting. At Club Assembly, President Mark shared with attendees the progress of various projects, including our Global Grant projects with Rotary Clubs of Pudu and Taoyuan Southeast. President Mark also detailed our Club’s plans to go ahead with putting together a project with Hummingfish Foundation. At Annual General Meeting, members approved, among other things, the financial accounts of RY2018-2019, expertly prepared by last year’s Treasurer Barry. After President Mark declared the closure of Annual General Meeting, our Christmas-themed party began. The dinner menu was specially designed by Regal’s catering for the occasion, with a colorful and delicious dessert spread to complement the festivity of the evening. President Mark and Rotarian Sam brought wines and whiskeys, respectively. Before tasting, our resident sommelier Past President Kay shared a bit of information and history about the wines on offer: one Chateau Montelena and one Negru de Purcari, a prized Moldovan wine brought home by President Mark when he visited Château Purcari near the Ukrainian border in Moldova half a decade ago. Members lucky enough to be sitting at Rotarian Sam’s table also got his expert take…